The invention relates to a controller, in particular a drive controller, with a permanently installed controller function and an additional dynamically loadable controller function, and to a method for operating such controller.
For controlling a system, in particular a drive, some functions of the controller are required permanently whereas other functions may be required only temporarily. The functions that are required permanently are referred to as basic functions of the controller. They can include, for example, a power/current control an/or a rotation speed control, for example, for the drive. The other functions, which are only required temporarily, are referred to as additional functions. These additional functions which may be required, for example, only during startup, may include diagnostic tools and/or setup tools.
The hardware resources available on the controller are often limited and the additional functions typically depend on the actual system to be controlled. It has so far proven difficult or impossible and expensive to integrate system-specific or application-specific additional functions in the controller in addition to the basic functions.
It would therefore be desirable and advantageous to provide an improved controller, which obviates prior art shortcomings and is able to specifically load control functions from an external source for temporary use in a control operation as needed, as well as a method for operating such controller.